E3 2011: LittleBigPlanet Vita Just Makes Sense

I've been waiting to play the game that makes me fall in love with the PlayStation Vita's bells and whistles. Sound Shapes is awesome -- a really unique idea -- but I feel like it could be done on any platform. I love Nathan Drake and am thrilled to have Uncharted: Golden Abyss, but most of the segments where I have to use the touch screen or touch pad seem a bit forced and out of place. I've been waiting to play something and have the gameplay click with the touch screen controls, and today it happened. LittleBigPlanet on the PlayStation Vita is a delight.

I like the LittleBigPlanet franchise, but even with LBP PSP and LittleBigPlanet 2, I knew what I was getting into when I started the games. I knew what to expect and that crazed excitement of platforming diminished. LittleBigPlanet Vita counteracts that by integrating the motion and touch controls in fun, natural ways.

The guy guiding me through my demo told me that the goal with LittleBigPlanet Vita is not to just give us another platforming game, but the level I played featured a lot of platforming for familiarity. I ran around the screen as Sackboy, used my Popit menu to change costumes (the game will carry over costume purchases from the PS3 version), and held the right shoulder button to grab on to stuff.

However, then I started using the Vita, and it made sense. There was a block out of Sackboy's reach, and I had to touch it on the front screen, and drag it down to make a step for my character. I used the block to leap on to a switch, and then I dragged the block to prop open the door I had just raised. All of that happened without the demo guy giving me hints. It just made sense.

The same can be said for using the rear touch panel to push out a bridge for Sackboy to use. For when Sackboy climbed onto a squishy surface and I knew to tap the object and draw it back like a slingshot. For when I ran into some piano keys and had to tap out a jingle to advance.

Race those rats.

And these are all platforming examples. I hopped out and tried mini-games, too. One was a two-player air hockey game where a partner and I laid the PlayStation Vita lengthwise on the table and moved our index fingers around to knock the puck around. In the other game, I tilted the Vita side to side to roll this wheel through a level. When it came to impassible gaps, I drew paths on the front screen to keep the wheel going.

These missions were fun, made excellent use of the PlayStation Vita and -- perhaps most importantly -- they showed an entirely new direction for this franchise. Sure, I've downloaded levels for the other LittleBigPlanet games, but can you imagine the scope of LittleBigPlanet Vita mini-games? The game could easily spawn an App Store-like community for the portable -- quirky mini-games that have nothing to do with platforming and everything to do with keeping you entertained on the go.

It's an exciting idea and a lofty goal, but based on how impressed I am with LittleBigPlanet Vita's content and controls, I think it's possible. It just depends on how creative you are when the game comes out in 2012.